Heroes
by starrdreamlove
Summary: Every girl has a hero. Similarly, every hero has a girl behind them. Thalia/Luke; Thalia-centric


Heroes

Every girl has a hero. Similarly, every hero has a girl behind them. The girl would always give up almost everything she had, betray everyone close to her, in exchange for the hero's love.

Theseus had Ariadne's help in the Labyrinth. In return, he left her sobbing on an island. Medea betrayed her family to help Jason, and in return he dumped her and went after another princess. (But Medea was a maniac, so don't feel too much sympathy for her...)

So as you can see, heroes don't have the best credit for keeping their promises. As Rick Riordan has showed us, two more girls were abandoned by their heroes: Zoe Nightshade, and Thalia Grace. We'll only focus on the latter. The former also has a story to tell, but now is not the time.

When Thalia Grace was nine, she ran away from home because she had lost the only thing that kept her home, her brother. Of course, being the daughter of Zeus means that her demigod smell is more obvious than others, and monsters soon caught up with her. She was a good fighter, but she can't hold up more than two monsters at a time, even with Aegis and her spear. That's where Luke Castellan came in.

Like Thalia, Luke also had family troubles. While Thalia's mother was an alcoholic and was drunk most of the time, Luke's mother was this crazy, and I mean literally crazy, old lady who sometimes sprouted random bits of information that seemed pointless. So being a demigod, Luke ran away.

Not long after Thalia ran away, three months tops, she met this slightly arrogant, mischievous, and handsome (but that didn't matter...right?) kid. She was fighting a hellhound at the time, and she hadn't eaten in two days, so she was losing power. Just when she was about to be overwhelmed, this random blonde kid came jumping in like he was a hero. (Which, ironically enough, was what he was going to be.) He slashed with his sword, and Thalia couldn't help but think that this blonde kid was good with the sword, and she was glad that she was the good person.

Within a few minutes, the hellhound disintegrated, and the blonde kid turned around to introduce himself. "Hey. I'm Luke. Need some help? I got some food here."

Normally, Thalia would not take food from strangers, but she hadn't eaten anything for two days, and she was tired, so she accepted it. Before she took a bite (a PB&J sandwich) though, she asked, "You're not trying to poison me here right? Cuz I have no valuables. Well I suppose Aegis and my spear is pretty valuable, but that's not worth killing me."

Luke laughed, "Haha no. I just fought off that hellhound for you didn't I? I won't poison you that quick... Unless you annoy me, but from what I've seen about you, well, you don't seem to fit that description... But you can never be too sure, I mean-" He never got to finish his sentence, for Miss Thalia Grace got tired of his rambling and decided to put up her shield to shut him up as her mouth was full of peanut butter.

"Gods you're worried about me being annoying? _You're _annoying! And now that I'm done, thanks for the sandwich. Peace out." She made to leave, but Luke grabbed her wrist.

"Wait don't leave. I didn't get your name yet."

Thalia turned around and smirked, "Thalia."

"No last name?"

"You didn't tell me yours, so why should I tell you mine?"

Luke couldn't come up with a response for that, but he refused to let go of her wrist. He found her to be...interesting, because he's been traveling around for about four months and he hasn't met like her...witty, quick with responses, and pretty (again, not important...right?). He found himself intrigued by her, and didn't want her to leave.

"Dude. Dude. DUDE! Can you stop daydreaming and let go of my wrist already? I don't wanna stay in the same place for too long..." Thalia was snapping her fingers in front of Luke's face.

"Uhh sorry. But I was wondering, do you wanna travel together? You're a demigod, I'm a demigod. We both fight monsters. And I saw you with that spear. You're good. We'll be unstoppable. Monsters don't stand a chance with both of us." Luke hadn't really anticipated on asking her this, but it came out. After he said it, he found that he didn't hate the idea. It gets lonely, traveling by yourself. And it's always nice to have a friend looking out for your back. And it didn't hurt with the fact that she was pretty. (again, not important...maybe)

Thalia considered her options. It did get lonely by herself. She had no one to talk to, no one to watch her back. And what Luke said was true, they would be unstoppable together. But... "Are you sure? Yeah, we'll be unstoppable together, but our scents also would be more obvious, since I'm a daughter of Zeus and my scent's stronger than yours... I think it might be better if we went separately..."

Luke hesitated. He didn't expect her to be a daughter of one of the big threes. But still... His wanting for a companionship overcame his sense of sensibility. "It's cool. We'll just have to be more careful. But think of the fun we can have!"

Thalia gave in. "Fine. We'll be best friends?"

Luke smiled. "Best friends."

Just like that, they became best friends and traveled together. Occasionally they bickered, but nothing serious. They always had each other's backs, and looked out for each other. She would take the lead in fighting monsters, he would fight along her. She was in charge with getting them a place to sleep, while he was in charge of getting them food.

During the three years they traveled together, they gradually fell for each other. Come on, Thalia was a girl, and everyone knows that girls mature earlier than boys. And Luke was two years older than Thalia, which meant he was going through his puberty too. How can they not fall for each other?

* * *

After three years of traveling together, they came across another demigod. She was a little seven year old, all cute but with this aura to her that made her a little intimidating. This little girl was Annabeth. She proved to be the world's biggest cockblock (in Luke's opinion, because she limited the time he could spend with Thalia) and the world's smartest seven year old. (No one disagreed on this one.) Within a few weeks after Annabeth became part of their family, Grover came to escort them to camp.

Along the way, they faced many obstacles. But they all managed through. It was when they were within running distance from the camp they were in trouble. They had at least five monsters pursuing them with many more to come. Thalia couldn't stand it anymore. She's had enough of this running away and fighting monsters. She didn't want anyone else hurt. She made a choice, and sent her friends across to camp safely while she would sacrifice herself. Thankfully, her dad decided to preserve her into a tree so she was still alive...well kinda...

Luke did not take the news easily. He yelled at the sky, at Zeus, but there was nothing he could do. He lost the love of his life. He felt like he lost the will to live. But one small sensible part of his brain told him _she's not dead. Her spirit is still in the tree. She wouldn't want you do act like this. Make her proud. _

And Annabeth? She was soo little she didn't understand some of it. But she knew something. Her best friend was gone. Thalia's tree became her favorite reading place.

* * *

After Luke's quest went sour, he became bitter. He resented that his father wouldn't acknowledge him. He reseted that Zeus turned Thalia into a tree. He resented everything about the gods. It was around this time he began dreaming about Kronos. Mind you, he didn't want to help at first. But then, Kronos offered him something he couldn't resist: to bring Thalia back, and have her next to him as they ruled the new world. How could he resist an offer like that? Luke was sold. His mind was full of hope of him and Thalia living together forever, he neglected everything else that was in store: all the bloodshed, all the deaths, all the wars.

* * *

After Percy Jackson brought Thalia back to life, her first thought was on her two best friends. She asked Annabeth, but she would just hold back tears and refused to talk. She asked Grover, but he just laughed nervously and chewed nervously on the styrofoam/tissue/anything satyrs eat. She asked Chiron, but he would just shake his head and tell her it was not his place to let her know. So she had to choice to ask Percy Jackson [who reminded her of herself but also a little of her little brother (how, she had no idea) and a little of Luke.] He gave her the answer right away, and what he told her made her insides feel queasy.

She didn't want to believe the guy she practically grew up with, the guy who meant the world to her, had turned bad. That's part of the reason why she fought a lot with Percy. He hated Luke, and she resented him for it. When Annabeth was kidnapped, it gave her more of a reason to fight with Percy. When the Hunters arrived, she was pushed beyond her limit. She fought like crazy with everyone that came across her, and was cross with almost everyone. When she found out she had to go on a quest with Zoe, she almost lost it.

But after going on the quest, she began to lose hope in Luke. She could see why Zoe chose to become a Hunter and why Annabeth was considering. Talking with Percy made her realize many things. But still, she believed that she could save Luke.

So when the time to fight Luke came, she was kind of ready. She was confident that he couldn't beat her. She wasn't ready for the mental fight. He knew everything about her and she knew everything about her. To throw it all away like that, it wasn't something that could be done. And his eyes were so full of pain, and she believed that his life was in danger. But she couldn't go to the bad side. That's not her. When she finally cornered Luke, tears were streaming down her face, for the normal life she wanted but never got, for the good times that existed when they were running away and probably won't happen again, for the boy she used to know and love but changed when she was a tree. She was tired. Again, just like when she was 12. But this time, her friends behind her changed. When Luke made to grab her spear, she kicked him off without realizing it. She lost all hope in him. She lost all hope in men.

She wasn't sure of many things, but she was sure of one thing. She wasn't meant to be the child of the prophecy. She isn't as strong as Percy is. When a challenge came, she ran away. So when Zoe died, she finally saw what Zoe was trying to tell her. She saw the similarities between her and Zoe. And she knew that it was her destiny to fulfill Zoe's place as lieutenant of the Hunters.

For the second time of her life, she felt contented. At peace with herself. She found the missing puzzle piece to her puzzle. It wasn't with men, it was with her sisters at the Hunters. She doesn't hate guys as much the others do, but she saw through them. She didn't want her heart to get hurt again. She could live the rest of her life without those scumbags.

* * *

Thalia smiled as she saw Annabeth and Percy awkwardly dancing at the winter solstice. The look those two shared reminded her of herself and Luke, but she knew Luke and Percy were different. Percy was too loyal to the people he loved. She knew her best friend was in good hands, and her heart won't get hurt like hers did. Maybe not all men were scumbags after all.

**A/N: This ended differently than what I planned out in my head. It wasn't meant to be this angsty, but who knows... Anyways I got the inspiration after rereading Titan's Curse (cuz I'm on summer vacation and bored out of my mind and can't wait for Mark of Athena to come out). Luke and Thalia's backstory always fascinated me, but I never got any inspiration until now. Anyways, my grammar and the punctuation aren't the best, (I'm good at finding other people's mistakes, not my own) so please put up with me. So yeah, read and review? Please? Thanks! **

**~starrdreamlove**


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